Today's New York Times

My point is simply that the High End dealers don't care. There are 2 well known high end dealers near me in the Boston 'burbs and neither one has an email list of clients who might be interested in something. Like music reproduction and its beauty...live little show in the "salon?" No no no. Manufacturer's product seminar or little meet and greet? HA. My local tire shop does a better job of reaching out to potential clients. It amazes me, it's strange, and beyond these little rants I sort of don't care that much, but I feel better having ranted.

"Okay... so then how are we going to introduce the "twenty and thirty somethings" into our hobby ?"

The New York Times article reads like an infomercial. In order to get more people of any age interested in high end audio the price must become more reasonaly.

"My local tire shop does a better job of reaching out to potential clients.”

Yeah... mine too Wolf. The vast number of neglected opportunities is mind boggling. One small part of a very large image problem is that dealers don't really want to be bothered with the curious. When visiting an upscale salon for the first time, it’s just natural for a newbie to be somewhat awestruck, and want to touch and hear everything... especially the big system in its own room that he can’t afford. A good salesperson needs to be patient and understanding. This isn’t to say that he has to be infinitely accommodating, but some finesse is important. I can’t tell you how many guys that I’ve advised to go to a high end salon instead of a “Best Buy” type place, who came back to me saying they walked out feeling like assholes. These were guys who were willing to spend enough money to be treated respectfully.

Example: Goodwin's High End has some nice salespeople as part of their "credo", and when I asked one of these guys how to find out about upcoming manufacturer's product rollout gatherings (you might notice these on their website), he said "well, we don't have a mailing list or email list"...it's 2013! Goodwin's is a shrine to high end and known far and wide for having the latest and greatest stuff, and even audiophiles are left out, making even less sense...very weird. Most people around here who aren't audio geeks (meaning 99% or more of everybody) don't know Goodwin's exists. I imagine their Magico and Boulder customers might get a call from a sales dude if something interesting shows up, but overall it's just lame.

Wolf_garcia - Goodwin's deals with a select group of clients. If they send out emails to everyone who signed up those Magico and Boulder demos would be overrun with people, most of them not interesting in actually buying. If you do business with them, you will get to come to those events. Their lack of emails seems to say they are happy with their current level of communications. I buy occasionally from them at their low end, but realize I am not their prime target. So, I understand them not reaching out to me for demos of products I am not going to buy. As with a lot of high end dealers in all sorts of fields, you need to establish yourself with them before they invite you in. I will say they have been more than gracious with demos and loaner gear when I have been interested in their products.

I do business with Audio Video Therapy (former Ensemble folk) in Nashua. They have vendor events and open houses. You can get on their list. Different level of product than Goodwin's, but it is at the level of what I buy. They even provide food and drink for their events.